Archive for the ‘Mercedes-Benz 540K’ tag

Long forgotten among Mercedes-Benz’s pre-war racing efforts was a 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner, originally built for a high-speed endurance race that never occurred. Now, thanks to the discovery of the car’s original blueprints, this one-of-a kind grand touring coupe has been recreated by Mercedes-Benz Classic and will make its public debut at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The years preceding World War II saw an emphasis on the development of high-performance automobiles on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, motor racing was a source of great national pride, and when an endurance race between Berlin and Rome was suggested, Mercedes-Benz was entrusted with producing a car that would capture victory for Germany. With less than a year to develop a suitable entry before the race’s proposed 1938 running, the engineers at Mercedes-Benz turned to a well-established high-performance platform, the 540 K. Equipped with a supercharger to increase the output of its 5.4-liter, inline eight-cylinder engine, the 540 K’s 180 horsepower could produce speeds approaching 145 KPH (90 MPH) when the 540 K chassis was fitted with a more aerodynamic body than the automaker’s standard offering.

An aero-bodied Mercedes-Benz 540 K. The Streamliner produced significantly less drag.

To capture victory in the Berlin-to-Rome run, even more speed would be needed, so the engineers at Mercedes’s “Special Car Construction” shop turned to aircraft design for inspiration. The body sketched by the group featured a low greenhouse, with a curved windshield and roof that tapered to a teardrop shape as it flowed to the rear of the car. Headlamps were integrated into the front fenders to reduce drag, and the center-mounted “Autobahn light” was recessed into the grill to minimize wind resistance. Door handles were flush with the body, panel gaps were minimized and even the iconic three-pointed star on the car’s grill was replaced by a painted image on the Streamliner’s hood, all to reduce the effects of the wind flowing across its surfaces. The effort produced the desired effect; while other aerodynamic 540 K bodies produced a drag coefficient of 0.57, the effort put into the design of the Streamliner reduced the coefficient of drag to just 0.36.

Rebuilding the Streamliner’s 5.4-liter, inline eight-cylinder engine.

This, however, created problems for the powertrain team, as the standard differential gearing would run the risk of over-revving the engine at the car’s top speed. To compensate, the 540 K’s gearing was changed from 3.08:1 to 2.90:1, trading acceleration for a higher top speed. In testing, the changes produced the desired effect, delivering a top speed of 185 KPH (115 MPH) and a comfortable cruising speed of 170 KPH (106 MPH).

Building the car’s ash wood body frame.

Though the 540 K Streamliner seemed powerful enough to capture a victory in the proposed Berlin-to-Rome race, no one knew if the tires of the day would prove capable of carrying such a heavy load at sustained speeds over long distances. Instead of further developing the Streamliner for competition, Mercedes-Benz opted to focus on a more proven variant of the 540 K for the event, which turned out to be a moot point as the 1938 running was delayed until 1939.

Meanwhile, tire manufacturer Dunlop had contracted with Mercedes-Benz for a high-speed variant of the 540 K to advance its racing tire design. Completed in the spring of 1938, the special construction 540 K Streamliner was delivered to Dunlop in June by a Daimler-Benz dealership in Frankfurt am Main, and for nearly a year the car was used for its intended purpose. The newly-constructed (and sparsely traveled) German Autobahn proved ideal for high-speed tire testing, and the Streamliner reportedly racked up miles at speed in a variety of conditions, proving the car had the potential its engineers had envisioned.

The onset of World War II put an end to the proposed Berlin-to-Rome rally and soon after an end to non-essential travel by automobile. To preserve the 540 K Streamliner’s functional life, it was converted to run on LP gas, and it remained in the possession of Dunlop until late in the war. Records show it was later pressed into service by the United States Army, sprayed a standard-issue shade of olive drab in compliance with military regulations. In the postwar years, the car was returned to Dunlop, which later returned it to Mercedes-Benz; then, in April of 1948, the car was de-registered and most of its aluminum body was scrapped. The car’s frame and running gear were preserved, however, entering the collection of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in 1950.

The 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Streamliner as it looked in 1938.

It was this frame and unique rear axle that ultimately alerted Mercedes-Benz historians to the overlooked gem in their collection, and when a full-scale drawing of the car’s original body was discovered in the archives, interest in recreating the car grew. The project was given a green light in late 2011, but rebuilding such a car from the ground up would prove challenging even for the craftsmen at Mercedes-Benz Classic. Ash wood would need to be precisely formed to shape the frame for the car’s aluminum body, which itself would need to be created panel by panel. Mercedes-Benz estimates that the forming and construction of the body alone required more than 4,800 hours of work, making the restoration an expensive proposition even for the German luxury automaker. Original components and period-correct parts from Mercedes-Benz’s vast inventory were used wherever possible, but many items had to be fabricated in-house as part of the restoration process. Even the car’s original silver bronze color, discovered on a few scraps of the original body, was painstakingly duplicated to be as accurate as possible.

The 540 K Streamliner as it looks today.

Today, the 540 K Streamliner looks much the same as it would have when delivered to Dunlop for tire testing. Its gray leather seating and walnut-trimmed dash belie its utilitarian purpose, and it’s likely this particular Mercedes-Benz must have been the most oft-requested car of its day among Dunlop engineers. Out of the public eye since the late 1940s, the restored 1938 540 K will makes its official debut at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Some light googling didn’t turn up anything on Miss Martha Jordans of Paris, but she must have been a remarkable woman, given that she ordered new this 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K sport cabriolet for sale on Hemmings.com. It’s since traversed the Atlantic and benefited from plenty of exposure and a restoration in its native Deutchland. From the seller’s description:

According to the built sheet from Daimler Benz, chassis 154146 was delivered to Sindelfinger Karosserie on 16th November 1936 by the works in chassis form and is one of only ten cars built in this body style, Series 826200, with longer front and rear wings and a boot mounted spare wheel as found on Special Roadsters.

Ordered by Miss Martha Jordans of Paris, the car was delivered on the 12th February 1937 to her German home on Albertusstrasse in Mönchengladbach via Daimler Benz Düsseldorf according to the commission sheet. We are told that Miss Jordans was apparently a friend of Mr. Alfried Krupp, the German steel magnate, and on the inside of the hood frame there is indeed a plaque with his name. Miss Jordans later emigrated via Paris to the USA and so she exported her beloved Sport cabriolet with her.

154146 is a well known car as it features in the books by Jan Melin, the Swedish authority on Mercedes Benz Supercharged Cars, including in photographs. Volume 2 on page 220 shows the car in 1965 with Jan Melin’s wife in New Jersey, and then again in 2002. There are additional pictures available of 154146 taken by Jan Melin in 1958 and 1968 in the USA and one later and undated, showing him and another person with the car. In 1989 the 540K was featured in the US magazine ‘Car Collector’ while in the ownership of noted American Mercedes-Benz expert Tom Kreid, who had purchased the car in 1981. In 1996 154146 returned to Germany, having been exported by David Clark of San Diego and purchased by a Dr. Stoffel of Straubing in Germany, who in turn sold it in 1997 to the current owner.

While in his ownership the vendor has undertaken a comprehensive programme of improvement work on the car, including the refurbishment of its original engine by noted pre-war engine specialists Wagner of Landshut, refinishing of the paintwork in silver grey, reupholstering the interior in dark blue leather, fitting a new hood and hood cover and the restoration of all interior woodwork. The car is still complete with its original Telefunken radio and fitted luggage and is supplied with a reprint of the owner’s manual, parts list and wireless manual.

Sale prices of top-end collector cars have risen dramatically over the last year or so as investors continue to look for hard assets in which to sink their money, so all eyes will naturally turn to the Monterey auctions in August expecting to see more multi-million dollar cars cross the block and more auction records break. Gooding and Company will thus enter Monterey this year with a car expected to fetch northward of eight figures: the Von Krieger Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster.

Described in a Gooding press release as “the most significant Mercedes-Benz to ever come to auction,” the 540K comes with no pre-auction estimate “due to the car’s unprecedented historical significance and provenance.” Yet the auction house believes it will set marque records, and David Gooding himself told the New York Times Magazine this week that it wouldn’t surprise him if it bid as high as the first-ever 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa that Gooding sold last year for $16.39 million, setting the current record for a car sold at public auction.

One of 26 540K Special Roadsters built to special order before World War II, the high-door, long-tail, exposed-spare car, chassis number 130949, was purchased new in 1936 by the aristocratic Von Krieger family for son Henning to use, but the Baroness Gisela Josephine Von Krieger – “a dead ringer for Marlene Dietrich,” as the New York Times Magazine described her; “one of the 10 most fashionable women in the world,” according to Gooding – eventually made it her own. Stories abound of how the Baroness removed it from potential destruction in Germany during World War II, first shipping it to Switzerland in 1942 and then to the United States after the end of the war. Though she lived in Manhattan, she kept the 540K at the Homestead Inn in Greenwich, even after she moved back to Switzerland in the early 1960s.

Collectors reportedly pressured the Baroness to sell the car, but she held on to it until her death in 1989, at which time it was reportedly valued at more than $2.5 million (about $4.54 million today). When retrieved from its storage shed at the Homestead Inn, it remained in original condition, though its black paint was peeling from its body and cigarettes with the Baroness’s lipstick remained in the ashtray. Following its sale by the Baroness’s estate, the 540K has had just one owner who initially restored it in silver. More recently – following its display at the Portland, Oregon, Art Museum’s Ken Gross-curated “The Allure of the Automobile” exhibit – its owner commissioned restorer Chris Charlton of Oxford, Maine, to restore it again, in the process returning the 540K to its original black.

“As one of Mercedes-Benz’s ultra-rare 540 K Special Roadsters, the von Krieger Special Roadster is already a special car, yet it ranks superior to other examples because of its unrivalled condition, history and provenance,” David Gooding said. “Its complete restoration, beautiful story and thoroughly documented history make it absolutely extraordinary and perhaps the finest 540 K Special Roadster in existence. It is the most exciting pre-war Mercedes-Benz I’ve ever known.”

The last sale of a 540K Special Roadster came just last year, when 540K chassis number 154140 – a 1937 high-door, long-tail, enclosed-spare car owned by Sam and Emily Mann that won Best in Show at Amelia Island and Best in Class at Pebble Beach – topped RM Auctions’ Monterey sale at $9.68 million. At the same auction, a later 1939 540K Special Roadster sold for $4.62 million and a 1936 540K Special Coupe sold for $3.08 million. Gooding has yet to sell a 540K Special Roadster at auction, but did sell a 1937 540K Sport Cabriolet in 2010 for $2.145 million.

Gooding’s Pebble Beach auction will take place August 18-19 at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center. For more information, visit GoodingCo.com.

UPDATE: It didn’t quite break the public auction world record, but it did top the sale with a final price of $11.77 million, becoming the world’s most expensive German car to sell at public auction as well as the world’s most expensive Mercedes to sell at public auction.

Fans of top-quality automotive artwork the world over have the Automotive Fine Arts Society to thank for legitimizing the automobile as a proper subject for fine art. Few places in the world celebrate the automobile as art better than the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, held every August in Pebble Beach, California.

Following previous practice, AFAS artists have created the offical posters for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance and will, for the 27th year, display their paintings and sculptures and other works of automotive-inspired art at the concours on August 19.

AFAS member Charles Maher will debut his new piece, From the Valley of the Kings, above, at the concours. A 30- x 71-inch acrylic triptych on canvas, From the Valley of the Kings features a 1938 Mercedes-Benz Autobahn Kurier, which was built on a 540K supercharged chassis in the Sindelfingen, Germany, coachbuilding facility. As the last of only six made, the car enjoyed an extended tour from Spain through North Africa, crossing Libya and into Egypt. The Mercedes was then shipped from Alexandria to Barcelona and was extensively driven through Austria and Switzerland.

“The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is an event that exudes excellence,” Maher said. “It was fitting to create a work of art that embodied the same spirit. With its fascinating, globe-trotting story, the extremely rare 1938 Mercedes Benz Autobahn Kurier is an automobile that Pebble Beach Concours patrons will enjoy seeing on canvas.”

The title of the piece is inspired by the car’s time in Egypt. The background evokes Maxfield Parrish’s influence with an Austrian-Swiss Alps setting, tying together crucial moments in this vehicle’s history.

One of the biggest classic-car stories of 2011 was on the books before 2011 even began. It was already known that following decades at lovely Meadow Brook Hall, the Concours of America was moving to the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan. The new locale drew more than 10,000 visitors, who viewed 331 utterly top-tier automobiles.

These two were judged the very best on the property. Chosen as Best of Show Domestic was the 1933 Duesenberg SJ of John D. Groendyke, one of three Riviera Phaetons produced with Brunn coachwork. Completed by Fran Roxas Restorations of Chicago, the Duesenberg was originally commissioned by Lt. Col. Jacob Schick, whose eponymous company produced shaving goods. Best of Show Foreign went to the spectacular 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahnkurier coupe owned by Arturo and Deborah Keller. Uncommon among 540Ks, this was a fixed-head coupe, first owned by professor Ignacio Barraquer and in his family for the next 70 years. It was restored by Paul Russell and Company of Essex, Massachusetts.